Homeward bound, and enjoying one last Amtrak journey before my flight back to the UK.

As much of my journey south had been in darkness, the dry, bright weather on the train back to Kissimmee was very welcome. The scenery through Fort Lauderdale and lots of places with ‘Beach’ in the name was interesting, although there must have been at least 200 miles of orange grove.

A final Amtrak lunch consisted of a very pleasant crab roll with kettle chips and salad. Highlighting typically American excess, thousand island dressing was eschewed in favour of ‘two thousand island dressing’. Honestly!

Kissimmee’s well-kept town centre was much more civilised than its brash Orlando neighbour, although much of it seemed to be closed on a Monday afternoon. Nevertheless, it was a pleasant place to while away an hour. Irritatingly though, I managed to lose my mobile phone somewhere between the railway station and the bus stop.

Edit: Someone handed it in! The rather alarmingly-named Kissimmee Police Department ‘Evidence Section’ called to arrange repatriating it. Hurrah!

On arrival at the British Airways bag drop, the check-in assistant printed off my boarding card, and I’d been reallocated to a standard class seat. Oh well.

After boarding BA2036, it transpired that I’d been assigned a seat with inoperative ‘entertainment’ system. So after take-off and much faffage from the cabin crew, they asked me to move again.

Settling into what was now the third of the seats I’d been allocated to, I was just getting comfortable when there was a murmur of discontent from the passenger behind me. Apparently, the seat was broken and had dislodged her tray table: ‘Would you mind moving?’

I held my tongue. Just. But it was not the most enjoyable of flights.

However, Blighty – and breakfast with Mrs Giles – beckoned ever closer. Arriving back home on April Fools’ Day seems eminently suitable.